After the first two exciting days of racing at the 420 National Championships, there was a brief pause in the competition due to excessively high winds. The race officer called it before 8am, and a short walk along the coast proved he was spot-on.
You can read the earlier report here.
Race 6 proved to be incredibly controversial, having called four boats UFD on the water and after examining video footage off the water, the race team decided a further 11 would be added to the list. Requests for scoring reviews ensued and all 11 were reinstated. Whilst this didn't impact the podium finishers overall, it did impact some of those further down who were carrying some bigger numbers.
Sunday saw further challenges to the start integrity and at 6pm the race was retrospectively abandoned. Overall the standard of race management was excellent, with quick turnarounds and fair courses. The race team boosted their reputation on Monday by delivering four excellent races in less than five hours despite a 30 degree shift during that time.
Monday also proved to be the hottest racing so far. Fflur/Rayner took race six win, Marsden/Creasy (last years winners) took race seven and with Jones / Burlton taking race eight there were three boats on 17 points going in to the last race.
Wade / Burlton were five points adrift of the top boats, but with a huge buffer behind them looked comfortable in fourth.
The last race came down to one of the tightest finishes in recent history, but Fflur/Rayner held their nerve to keep Fletcher/Cawthorne behind them on the last reach to the finish and take the title, adding to their Youth nationals win earlier in the year. Wade/Valentine completed the top three finishers in the last race with Jones/Burlton fifth and taking the final overall podium finish and the U17 title. Marsden/Creasy were fourth completing a much better set of races on the last day, but not soon enough to challenge the top boats.
It was a similar story in the female teams, going in to the last race it was a three-way tie between Moskovitch/Burlton, Potter/Nieuwland, and Creighton/Beardsall. They finished 8th, 9th and 10th meaning another female championship title for Noa and Gabs.
The female talent within the 420 fleet is at its highest for many years with four mixed, three female and three female boats making up the top 10.
It was great to be joined by our friends from the Irish 420 fleet and Cora McNaughton/Sean Cronin were top overseas boat in 11th.
Congratulations to the 25 new sailors who joined the fleet, topping the new teams were Finn and Andy Ramus.
We sadly said goodbye (for now) to many of our sailors as University and gap years beckon. We wish you all the best and remember you never grow out of a 420!
Full Report: https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/278813/420-British-Nationals-at-Dale-Overall
